Bluff City mayor among record number of area residents filing bankruptcy

Staff Report
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Dec 30, 2008 at 12:00 AM

Bluff City Mayor Todd Malone is one of 15,693 people who filed for bankruptcy this year in the Eastern District of Tennessee. According to the Bristol Herald-Courier that a 28 percent increase over last year. Malone, who blames his financial problems on a weak economy, filed for bankruptcy Dec. 18. He closed his business - Race Scan Communications - Oct. 22.“I just had no choice,” Malone told the Herald-Courier. “I really didn’t want to go through this, it’s an experience that I never hope to go through it again.”The Eastern District bankruptcy court covers 35 counties in east Tennessee, and operates out of federal courthouses in Chattanooga, Greeneville and Knoxville.Similar increases have been seen across the country. Between July 1 and Sept. 30 this year, 292,291 people filed for bankruptcy in the United States. That's the largest number of filings in a three-month period since 2005, when the U.S. Congress passed new laws making it tougher to file.